Led by a Polish transplant and Princeton University graduate who describes himself as a designer, doctor, educator, engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist, philanthropist, scientist, social entrepreneur and technologist, the Factor E Farm outside of Kansas City, Kansas is leading the “Open Source Ecology” movement.

On its sleepy, brown exterior, Santa Fe isn’t exactly a hot stew of entrepreneurial angst and venture capital cool, but a closer look reveals a community ripe with ideas and plenty of high-level investors willing to take a chance on smart business concepts.

Santa Fe has a brutal cost of living when compared to the average annual income of individual citizens. Most Santa Feans, however, will tell you they enjoy a high quality of life. How is this possible?

Sometimes even the most well-intentioned local shoppers assume that certain items just aren't available in Santa Fe

In Santa Fe, as in a growing number of cities across the country, the economic benefits of buying locally at the consumer level are well-documented and routinely championed. But there’s very little in the way of support for helping those small businesses represent more local goods.

SFR has traditionally published our locavore’s guide to Santa Fe at this time of year. This year, we present Worth: The Locals’ Guide to the Santa Feconomy. We tackle a broad swath of the issues and ideas that make a big difference in Santa Fe’s local businesses’ bottom lines.